By Marco Salas, Media Relations Graduate Assistant
Tempe — The Sun Devil softball team is off to a great start as they enter Pac-12 play at 15-3. Leading the charge for the Sun Devils is Graduate outfielder Yanni Acuña who leads the team on and off the diamond.
On the diamond, Yanni can be seen roaming the outfield throwing out players at the plate and hitting leadoff lasers to set the team up to score early.
Off the diamond, Acuña likes to give back to her community in South Tucson, working with Jackie Vasquez-Lapan, a Sun Devil softball alumna and CEO of the Lapan Sunshine Foundation. Yanni and Jackie share similar backgrounds as the two are both from Tucson and made the journey up the I-10 to continue their academic and athletic career in Tempe.
Vasquez-Lapan runs the Lapan Foundation, a program located in South Tucson, the same area where Yanni grew up. The area is one of the poorest areas in all of Arizona and the Lapan Foundation provides after school programs and educational opportunities for kids who might not otherwise have them. Acuña gives back to her community by leading food drives and summer programs.
“Yanni is a leader. Every time she's home, she jumps straight in, whether it's doing our Thanksgiving drives and serving families to leading our camps. It's awesome to see because when she's home she could be doing other things, but she wants to give back and the kids really look up to her because she grew up a mile from where they grew up," said Vasquez-Lapan.
When Yanni is leading a sports camp, most of the planning is done by her. She gets a little help from Vasquez-Lapan, but Yanni is the one creating all the drills and setting up the stations.
And who is helping her with executing the camps? Her own ASU teammates.
She was able to get her teammates to help with a camp and organized them to come down to Tucson to clean and move in Lapan college students into low-income college housing. The Sun Devil softball team really had their eyes opened by Yanni and the community that raised her.
“It's for the kids,” Yanni said. “These kids are still in elementary school, middle school so they're still learning and especially if we're out there engaging with them, they’re going to want to be as good as you and compete with you. So, it's just fun getting them out of their house and just, you know, playing together as a community.”
In her perspective, Yanni volunteers the way her coaches did when she was growing up.
“When I was growing up and playing softball, there were people taking time out of their day without getting paid to give back to us. Now that I look back on it I'm so grateful for all of the coaches who put in their time and did it because they loved it. They did it because they wanted us to be successful young ladies and play the sport that we love. So, I only think it's fair for me to give to other people," said Yanni.
South Tucson is home for Yanni. Her family is still there including her two youngest sisters who also attend the camps put up at the Lapan Foundation. When she’s giving her time back and see’s the kids having fun and smiling, she knows the work she’s doing with Vasquez-Lapan is making a difference in their lives and is setting the foundation for them to be successful.
“I’ve learned so much from Jackie. She does so good for the community and just seeing what she does inspires me to give back. When I go home to Tucson those are my people. I grew up with those kids and I understand how their life is and I'm able to listen and tell them it’s going to get better.”
Catch Yanni and the Sun Devil softball team in action this weekend as they take on the University of Arizona in a three game series starting on Friday, March 10th. Tickets for Friday's game (7 PM MST) can be found here or for more information, please call (480) 965-5812 to speak with a Sun Devil Ticket Sales Representative.